An off-putting, misguided disease-of-the-week picture that tries to disguise itself as something else before finally coming clean.
Comment
06/25/09
Phoebe In Wonderland (2009)
58
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:48
Fresh:28
Rotten:20
Average Rating:5.8/10
Consensus: Blessed with a good cast, Phoebe's heart is in the right place, but its execution is dicey.
Runtime: 1 hr 40 mins 1 sec
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: So much of what constitutes psychological inquiry in cinema is overly simplistic, boiling down the complexity of behavior to clichés. So it’s exceptionally gratifying, when dealing with subjects as... [More]
Starring: Elle Fanning, Patricia Clarkson, Felicity Huffman, Bill Pullman
Director: Daniel Barnz
Reviews for Phoebe In Wonderland
... an involving and empathetic drama of mothers and daughters.
03/05/09
Elle Fanning, the ten-year-old sister of Dakota, can act like nobody's business, and it is her remarkable ability that carries an otherwise artistic mess of a movie.
03/09/09
An impressive family drama that salutes the power of the imagination and the challenges faced by unconventional children in a world where conformity is rewarded over creativity.
03/04/09
Phoebe in Wonderland gradually loses its grip on tone and believability, climaxing with a show-must-go-on moment that's just plain silly. Thankfully, Barnz knows exactly where to end his film: on the face of a girl, and an actress, at the crossroads.
03/05/09
The mesmerizing performance of [Elle] Fanning as the gifted and troubled young Phoebe sparks the picture.
01/22/08
Top CriticBelievable and engaging, Fanning nearly renders the ensuing bore watchable
07/16/09
The whimsical and outlandish flights of fantasy are what initially grab the attention, but the greatest virtues are the authentic performances by the cast.
09/07/09
It's a young-girl-cracks-up movie in the mode of I Never Promised You a Rose Garden crossed with a theater vs. reality subtext that feels like A Child's First Synecdoche, New York.
03/03/09
...has the advantage of having the marvelous Elle Fanning in its title role. She gives a performance of nuance and intensity...
03/06/09
Visuals aside, what drags Phoebe in Wonderland along is Fanning's performance, but the rest of the film never rises up to the level of her simple moments counting steps or explaining that she has to wash her hands a certain number of times.
03/06/09
Phoebe appears to have obsessive-compulsive disorder (or something), but Phoebe in Wonderland is so intent on celebrating her as 'special' that it quirks up the trauma of her issues.
03/04/09
Phoebe may not be schizophrenic, but any movie that simultaneously wants to trouble and reassure, to keep it real and then traffic in wish fulfillment, certainly is.
09/12/08
It leaves you frustrated and annoyed.
03/06/09
Top Critic"Phoebe in Wonderland" gradually morphs into a psychological drama of deep intensity, with an astounding performance by Fanning.
03/10/09
Movies featuring exceptional young actresses have always been near and dear to my heart. Elizabeth Taylor, Tatum O'Neal, Anna Paquin ------ to mention a few ----- are particular favorites of mine. Now I must add Elle Fanning to that list.
03/10/09
It's a rare thing when a labor of love turns out to be worth both the labor and the love.
03/06/09
Writer-director Daniel Barnz manages to achieve a true and delicate balance for much of Phoebe in Wonderland, his first feature, but ultimately undermines himself with heavy-handed and rather hackneyed whimsy.
03/06/09
Barnz's feature debut is well intentioned but dramatically unfocused, unable to decide exactly what it is propagaing, thus navigating between fantasy and reality and the serio, whimsical and lyrical.
03/04/09
I thought this was delightful, a little depressing at times but with three stellar performances from Fanning, Huffman, and Patricia Clarkson.
03/09/09
Latest News for Phoebe In Wonderland
March 18, 2009:
Elle Fanning excels in character study of mentally-troubled child. 
More...
March 05, 2009:
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This week at the movies, we've got Watchmen, the long-awaited adaptation of Alan Moore's classic graphic novel directed by Zack Snyder and starring Billy Crudup and Carla... More...
February 15, 2009:
Trailer & Poster review
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